Députée de Yellowknife Sud

Première ministre adjointe
Ministre des Finances
Ministre responsable de la Société d’énergie des Territoires du Nord-Ouest
Ministre responsable de l’infrastructure stratégique, de l’énergie et des chaînes d’approvisionnement

Caroline Wawzonek a été élue pour la première fois à la 19e Assemblée législative en 2019, comme représentante de Yellowknife Sud. Elle a été ministre de la Justice, ministre des Finances, ministre responsable de la condition de la femme, et ministre de l’Industrie, du Tourisme et de l’Investissement. En 2023, Mme Wawzonek a été élue par acclamation à la 20e Assemblée législative et a réintégré le Conseil exécutif en tant que première ministre adjointe, ministre des Finances, ministre de l’Infrastructure et ministre responsable de la Société d’énergie des TNO.

Mme Wawzonek a obtenu un baccalauréat ès arts de l’Université de Calgary en 2000 et un diplôme en droit de la faculté de droit de l’Université de Toronto en 2005. Son parcours universitaire comprend des études de langues en Chine et à Taïwan, ainsi que des stages de droit aux Philippines et en Angleterre. Mme Wawzonek est née à Calgary (Alberta) et habite Yellowknife depuis 2007.

Une fois admise au Barreau des TNO, Mme Wawzonek a mis sur pied sa propre pratique du droit pénal et a plaidé à tous les échelons du système judiciaire des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, et s’est souvent déplacée dans les collectivités ténoises à cet effet. Elle a ensuite intégré le cabinet d’avocats Dragon Toner, élargissant sa pratique au litige général et au droit administratif jusqu’à ce qu’elle devienne députée de la 19e Assemblée.

Depuis 2007, Mme Wawzonek a assumé de nombreux rôles de leadership au sein de la communauté juridique : elle a notamment été présidente du Barreau des Territoires du Nord-Ouest et présidente de section pour la division des Territoires du Nord-Ouest de l’Association du Barreau canadien, et a participé à divers groupes de travail. Son engagement envers la collectivité l’a amenée à œuvrer dans de multiples organisations de Yellowknife et, en 2017, elle a reçu un prix national soulignant le travail de femmes canadiennes œuvrant dans le domaine du droit.

Mère de deux enfants, Caroline Wawzonek aime courir, faire de la planche à pagaie et passer du temps à l’extérieur.

Committees

Caroline Wawzonek
Yellowknife Sud
Bureau

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Boîte
1320
Extension
12177
Vice-premier ministre, Ministère des finances, Ministre de l'Infrastructure, Ministre responsable de la Société d'énergie des Territoires du Nord-Ouest

Déclarations dans les débats

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of wonderful restaurants that the Member may want to attend on a Sunday and see what he can do. But as far as going on his own right now, that is not an option. But, Mr. Speaker, the rules, again, that are contained within legislation, within the regulations, are under review and, indeed, I appreciate the support and assistance from committee in terms of getting us forward to a point where I expect that that legislation will be introduced soon, and that may see some changes depending on how that proceeds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 144)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, when the current existing contracts expire, they will go out for a public procurement process.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to the translators, I am sorry; I will try to slow down.

Mr. Speaker, I take issue with the continued characterization of an engagement process as "secret." This has been since 2017 that we have been going out and talking about the Mineral Resource Act and its regulations, before I even came in here. And part of the concern was raised in 2019, when are you going to start to do something and stop keep going and doing consultation processes? We hear that all the time. And, yet, ITI is out doing both public meetings, engagements, forums, sessions, surveys, and...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad the Member got my name right. It was the Minister of mines earlier and that of course doesn't exist. There is the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment, sometimes known as Minister for the economy for which I'm responsible for the mineral resources sector and all of the work to get the Mineral Resources Act implemented, the mineral resources regulations ready to go. And in the process of doing that, one part of that is the royalties and for that purpose, Mr. Speaker, there was a fivemonth long process, as the Member's made the point of...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, at this point, Mr. Speaker, having received feedback and being aware of interest in the area over the last six years, the department is at the point of being able to do the modeling and to be able to then take that, develop a policy, and develop it in concert, of course, with the Intergovernmental Council and the technical working group with whom we've been developing the Mineral Resources Act regulations from the start. It's part of a codevelopment process. They will make some decisions as a group. That will be what determines what the drafting instructions...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 143)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these were specifically intended to gather information from prospector licensing holders because, of course, they're asking questions along the lines of "do you agree with adopting the PDAC exploration assessment digital data form EADDF for work assessment reports for data submission and digital format including PDF reports or other acceptable files, metadata, spatial map locations, geophysics submissions, including raw field data." Mr. Speaker, the average member of the public does not want to be answering that question. It would not be appropriate. It was...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that probably is the answer there is probably going to have to look as much to the arts funding that is being proposed in the main estimates here as much as it is to tourism programming. But, again, as I had indicated earlier when I made a commitment that I will go back to NWT Tourism around accommodation issues and what work they may be doing, perhaps I'll add to that list, and I no doubt am due for a touch base with them, that we can speak specifically about what we can do to increase access to the arts sector as well. And again, you know, they are...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I can't say on the perspective of what Indigenous governments' view on it might be. What I can speak to a bit more is with respect to the foraging and harvesting opportunities, you know, for example Ecology North, I believe, has been running tours out to do harvesting walks or foraging walks here just in Yellowknife. So to the extent that these are the people who understand and know the land the best, I would think those opportunities are there. Whether they want to commodify that and turn that into a tourism product, again, there is funding opportunity for...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there was a federal-provincial-territorial meeting just not that long ago in Vancouver, and it certainly I think was reflective that the experience across much of Canada is similar to ours, which is we're seeing a return to some degree, but also acknowledging that a lot of the operators are not uniformly back to where they were and necessarily uniformly back to being in a position to welcome back the tourists who do seem to be coming back in terms of the demand. So there is still some disconnect in that respect. We're not alone in experiencing that.

As far...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 141)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe it is open at least largely open, to be this summer, Madam Chair.